Community restoration of a -pa Buddhist in the village of Langtang in the Nepalese Himalayas: a window on local attitudes to conservation, heritage, and their management.

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Hayley Saul, Emma Waterton, Suzi Richer, and the Shree Samling Monastery Restoration Group, Langtang Nima : “We are all Buddhist, you know? Our more or less culture is very related with the monastery. The monastery is most…one of the most important for our culture. And so, even we are not die, and even we are alive, much of time we are to spend with the monastery. It is very important for us”.

 Tibetan draws from complex , Therevada and Yogacara philosophy  The Nyingmapa school is the oldest of four schools, and is historically de-centralized meaning it has developed local characteristics.  The development of the Langtang monastery demonstrates selective attention and emphasis of certain Buddhist principles over others.  These choices highlight a local trajectory for heritage values relating to authenticity, materiality, and antiquity. Towards Tamang ‘Heritage’ The Langtang Gompa Restoration Project The community of Langtang Schematic of the layout Structural problems Bowing of the walls Cracking the woodwork Damaging Thanka murals Materiality in a non- material philosophy

• Non-dual awareness (rigpa) • Sunyata, or the ‘voidness’ of materiality • Pratiyasamutpada dependent origination • Sunyata (voidness, emptiness) • The essential nature (svabhava) of Gelbo: “If we can preserve the ancient things materiality inside our monastery. If we can preserve, • Doctrine of (annica) then the young peoples, or when children are still in school in , and anywhere they don’t know about this village and how was the monastery. If they are coming here we can explain them easily, you know, this is our [unclear word…dead?] things, many years ago these are come from . We can easy to explain them, and also our Buddhist cultural, we have to the bowls, and the statues, everything. If we have then we more believe in them”. Light and the sensation of awakening

“If the [monk] should have a hut built from his own begging on a site with disturbances and without adequate space, or if he should not assemble the to designate the site, or if he should have the standard exceeded, it entails initial and subsequent meetings of the Community [central monastic authority]”.

“…the plastering mentioned in the Vibhanga refers to a plastered roof, that the plaster must be either clay or white lime (plastering with cow dung or mud doesn’t count, although cement would probably come under “white lime” here), and that the plastering on the inside or outside of the roof must be contiguous with the plastering on the inside or outside of the walls. Thus if the builder leaves a gap in the plastering around the top of the wall so that the plastering of the roof and the plastering of the walls don’t touch at any point, the building doesn’t qualify Vinaya (monastic regulatory code) [as permanent]…” (Bhikku 1994, 127). http://www.tara.org/stupas/ Samsara- The wheel of existence, the cycle of life, death and

http://destinygallery.blogspot.co.uk

Deity Yoga Tib. lha'i rnal 'byor Monastery as ‘Authenticity’ Gelbo: “Yeah, before we think we have to keep the natural way. When they are starting, they put the roof in stone. That we felt we have to save them. But problem is if we save ‘out’, ‘out’ of cultural, of outside, then we destroy the inside. Inside is much important than outside. So we have to change them. We are coming to make a decision, you know”. Son Norbu: “Yeah, we have a meeting”.

Gelbo: “Inside is all, everything is same like before”.

The Collected of the Ancients (Nyingma Gyübum, rnying ma rgyud ’bum)

Time and Antiquity gter ma, or ‘short transmission of Treasures’

Atemporal

Linear

25 disciples 25 Cyclical

Origin Treasure concealers/revealers bka’ma, or ‘long Translators transmission of precepts Re-interpreters Reincarnates Antiquity as Community as conservation strategy Thank you